When Dogpatch USA was open, a funicular tram would lower guests from the parking lot to the theme park down in the valley below. Now the broken down remnants of the tram have a headless statue of a goat (which used to be on the roof of the welcome center, and also used to have a head) sitting in it.

There’s your weekly dose of trivia about abandoned Ozark theme parks!

I’m still in Missouri until next week, so anything purchased from my store will not be sent out until I get back next week!

Of course this brings up some interesting questions for your purposes. Is the Dogpatch Avalon a relatively new community, or… Was Dogpatch a town like the Liverpool Avalon and with the population of humanity growing they built the attraction to hide their community with full intent of having it fail since the mystique of an abandoned amusement park would make the area seem even more desolate and empty… Can we go so far as assume that Al Capp was a hidden mythical creature who was in on the whole thing?

I dropped THIS for My Little Pony?! Well, I’ve run out of episodes and this was next on the list. Still loving the work you put into this! It warms my heart to see that someone who isn’t a big name producer still puts out these very well made comics. Keep it up!

*rubs hands together* I hereby revoke any and all responsibility Kory may have reason to feel for me discovering such an awesome, probably dangerous park to explore well within a day and a half’s drive of my home. I would inevitably have heard of it eventually, given the breadth of my research in various topics.

I actually visited Dogpatch USA a long time ago, when it was still open. If I remember correctly, it was about… 1983, give or take a year or two. (The park didn’t close until 1993.)

Coincidentally, a guy named Bud Pelsor is planning to restore and eventually re-open the park. In fact, it was open to the public for two days in December 2014, and again in May 2015, for visitors interested in seeing the restoration process and hearing about Mr. Pelsor’s plans for the park.

As far as I know, he hasn’t announced an official re-opening date yet, though since he’s got around 100 acres to restore, he’ll be at it for a while. I know he plans to clean up the stream, bring back the trout farm and mill, bring back the music, and possibly add a restaurant. The reopened park will be called the “Village at Dogpatch”. (I don’t mind the name change. In fact, in my opinion, a name change is necessary. Most people would have to be almost my age to even *remember* ‘Lil Abner, since the comic strip was retired in 1977.)